Political Ad Sleuth Campus Challenge

We’re recruiting a nationwide team of political ad sleuths to visit their local TV stations, get copies of the political ad files, upload them to the Web and mine the data. This is a great election-year activity for college classes and student media organizations. Email CampusChallenge@freepress.net to get involved.

This page tells you everything you need to know about visiting your local stations. We also have links to hands-on checklists, resources and examples from other campuses.

Background on TV Stations' Political Files:

All broadcast TV stations are required to maintain political ad files that document who has purchased political ads and how much they paid for airtime. We’ve launched the Political Ad Sleuth Campus Challenge to help bring voters information they need before they vote on Nov. 6.

The Federal Communications Commission now requires major-network stations in the nation’s top 50 broadcast markets to post their political ad files online. This article provides FAQs about the online files.

How to Inspect Political Ad Files:

These resources provide nuts-and-bolts info on how to inspect political files.

Free Press Training Video: Our video shows you how to set up a visit to your local TV station, find the files you want and get them online:

How to Inspect Political Files: This handy how-to guide provides step-by-step information on how to free the files from your local broadcasters.

File-Inspection Checklist: Ready to visit your local station? Don't forget to bring this handy checklist, which covers both public and political files.

Sunlight Foundation Overview Video: This video gives further context on visiting stations and uncovering crucial information in the political files:

Sample Ad-Inspection Projects:

All over the U.S., people on campuses and in communities are doing great things with the political ad datathey’ve collected from local TV stations.

Before Nov. 6 is written into history, we need to challenge assumptions now circulating among Washington’s pundit class.

First, the Obama victory didn’t signal the demise of big-money politics. It didn’t spell the end of the Super PAC. And the election wasn’t a train wreck for political advertising — even after groups paid billions for spots in support of losing candidates.

Free Press spent the final months of the campaign season traveling to swing states to visit TV stations that are not currently required to post their political files to the Federal Communications Commission’s new online database.

When the FCC announced it would require broadcasters to upload data on political ad spending, it exempted all Spanish-language TV stations from posting this information until 2014.

Press Releases

On Friday, Free Press released Missing Out: Political Ads, Spanish-Language TV and the Latino Vote, a report analyzing political ad spending in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida and New Mexico.
Political ad buys have skyrocketed to record-breaking levels nationwide, and much of that money is being spent in swing states, particularly by Super PACs and other third-party groups. But in the three states studied, Free Press found that few political ads have aired on Spanish-language stations.

Free Press staff and volunteers have inspected political files at hundreds of local TV stations in cities around the U.S. We’ve got some tips on how you can use this data to write an article, a blog post or a letter to your local paper.

An estimated $3.3 billion in political advertising dollars will pour into local television stations this year. But how much news and information will these stations provide to counteract the political propaganda? You can help us find out.

Learn More

Join us in Denver on April 5–7, 2013, for the National Conference for Media Reform, the country’s largest conference devoted to media, technology and democracy issues. Sign up and we'll keep you updated as conference planning unfolds. You can read more about NCMR on the conference website.

TV broadcasters use the public airwaves for free in exchange for a commitment to serve and inform their communities. If you want to know what your local broadcasters are doing to meet those obligations, the best place to look is their public files.

And the political files broadcasters are required to maintain include essential information about who is buying political ads and how much they are paying.

Forget Kerouac: Free Press is embarking on a road trip for the ages. Our mission? To help voters make informed decisions at the polls come November.

Back in April, the Federal Communications Commission answered the push from Free Press and other public interest groups and ruled that TV broadcasters must post their political files online. These files reveal who’s behind political ads — and how much they paid for airtime.

Freepress.net is a project of Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund. Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund do not support or oppose any candidate for public office. We are nonpartisan organizations fighting to save the free and open Internet, curb runaway media consolidation, protect press freedom, and ensure diverse voices are represented in our media.